A number of methods are known in the art to produce "instant" corn grits and other such starchy and proteinaceous vegetables. While these methods represent substantial progress in developing a truly "instant" product which can be prepared in the bowl without need of cooking by the consumer, such products suffer from a number of deficiencies such as poor qualities of rehydration, poor taste and palatability or mouth feel. Thus, while the prior art has been successful in reducing the cooking time of corn grit products, this generally has been done at the expense of the texture and flavor characteristics of the product when compared to conventionally cooked products.
Two prior art methods employed in the manufacture of instant grits are illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,664,846 and 3,664,847 which involve the admixture of corn grits, water and polysaccharide gum to a two-stage heating treatment at critical temperatures with subsequent drying of the mixture for a critical period of time in a drum dryer. The resulting product collected from the dried sheet is comminuted to form an instant-type corn grits product. The products produced according to these methods do not require the addition of an emulsifier as employed in other prior art methods as for example illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,512 to Collins et al.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,006 to Wenger, a process is described for producing expanded cereal products. The Wenger method involves subjecting starch-containing material to steps of heating, mixing, moisturizing, compressing and pressure release in order to effect maximum expansion of the starch material, and thus increase the bulk size of the end product. The expanded products of the Wenger process are useful as food or as ingredients in food products, such as breakfast cereals, party snacks and the like.
The present invention provides a new process for producing instant corn grits having the advantage of shorter preparation times as well as the elimination of emulsifier ingredients. The process of our invention further provides a product having a texture and mouth feel comparable to conventionally cooked products. Furthermore, the process of the present invention provides a means for increased production of product compared to prior methods of manufacturing instant grits.
Accordingly, it is the object of our invention to provide a corn grit product which may be readily prepared for consumption by simply adding boiling water to the product in a serving bowl.
It is a further object of our invention to provide a corn grit product having excellent rehydration properties.
A still yet further object of our invention is to provide a corn grit product having a texture and mouth feel comparable with that of conventionally cooked corn grits.
Still yet, another object of our invention is to provide a method for providing an instant corn grit and like proteinaceous material product.